Today - A review of the series

In the past 37 episodes I’ve covered rather alot of ground. I’ve explained exactly what clutter is, what causes it and the mental and emotional impact that a cluttered home or work space can have and some survey statistics to back that up. Then I listed the common mistakes that people make when attempting to organise their clutter and how to avoid these problems. I touched on the mental blocks that often stop us from making any progress and the number one secret of organised and successful people which of course is managing their time.
Then I covered the concept of the family CEO or domestic diva as a way of stepping fully into the very important and responsible role of successfully managing your household. This was followed by learning how to set goals a couple of ways to go about decluttering and then what your big picture vision is for your home and life., and then the huge importance of plugging the leak that’s causing much of your clutter problems in the first place.

At this point we got into the nitty gritty of how to go about clearing your clutter by taking the tried and true clutter diet method or the bigger and harder week-end wallops. I provided some resources for recyling useful but unwanted items you find in your clean up and some options for limiting the build up on the future. I followed this by providing detailed ways of approaching specific problems areas of the home like kitchen appliances, garages, wardrobes, kids rooms and many more.

Then onto the paper problem with solutions for filing systems, mail and setting up a communication centre and family binder. I covered dealing with hobbies, emergencies and staging your home for sale and lastly preparing for a house move.
I’ve enjoyed creating these information and how to programs for you and hope they’ve been of us to you.

Follow the series link below to find all the previous episodes.

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Today - Preparing to move house

Moving house can be and in fact is well noted as a high stress life situation but much of this can be avoided with a little planning.
The first and most important thing is to avoid packing and taking stuff you don’t need or use - yes clutter! I know I probably sound like a broken record by now but why pay to move stuff from A to B when you don’t even need it! Really you may well be able to hire a smaller vehicle if you get rid of the junk. So first thing is to declutter well ahead of time.

Next if you are moving yourself and not hiring removalists then DO NOT under estimated the size of the vehicle you’ll need to move everything, this is a very  common problem so make sure you allow extra room.
Now when you pack it is vital that you label what’s in each box and also what room it’s for - you should know where you’re moving to and the various rooms that are in it. So if you currently have 2 kids on one room and youre moving to a home ehere they’ll have a room each then the items packed for each child should be in separate boxes marked for the different rooms.

This same technique can be applied in a micro fashion for the kitchen whereby you mark what the items are that’s in the box and where in the kitchen they’ll be going.
Create an inventory of all your boxes and other items so that you have a comprehensive list that you can check off at the other end immediately. That way if something is missing you know straight away rather than a month down the track when you go looking for it.

Moving house is a fabulous time to declutter,  free yourself of stuff you don’t need and get into new habits in your new home. It’s a whole new start where you can apply all the best strategies covered in this series and become totally organised at last or again as the case may be! All you need to do is a little planning, it’s quite simple and well worth the effort.

That’s it for this time, next episode is the series Finale!

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Today - Preparing to stage your home for sale

I’ve noticed that far too many people fail to realise the drastic difference home staging can make to the price you get for your home. Now this does mean you need to roll up your own sleeves, but think about the end result and more so if you’re selling to avoid further debt. It’s possible to make a big difference for very little cost.

You first need to remove ALL clutter, strip the house down to the barest of furniture and decorative items - it needs to be as neutral as possible. If this means packing suitcases and storing at a friends then do it! A coat of paint will often make the biggest impact (and it really isn’t that hard to do - search online for how to paint instructions) Check out what the latest fashion colours are and choose the light neutrals for the bulk of the house and some occasional accent colours for feature walls if at all. Avoid lots of colour changes between rooms and certainly get rid of wallpapers if there are lots of different patterns through-out the house.
It’s best to have a minimal amount of different floor coverings as well as this helps to unify the look and increases the size of the home visually and the bigger a house seems the better off you are.
Make sure you clean every square inch of the home, every nook and cranny, skirting boards, windows, window frames, fly screens etc etc Make it sparkle like new!  Simple things like whitening the tile grout in the bathroom can have a huge visual impact and make a big difference to the overall impression your home gives.
Stand back and be objective - put your tastes and opinions aside and ask yourself whether it would be better to rearrange the furniture or the purpose of the rooms to be more appealing to buyers - chances are it will.  Ask a few different real estate agents what they think as they’re more in touch with the market, but remember they aren’t always right so weigh up those opinions before making any changes. Buying some cheap throw rugs to cover lounges so as to bring their colour in line with the overall scheme is a low cost option or better still hire furniture if you have the budget.
When it comes time to sell put together a document that contains all the features of your home and all the local conveniences like bus stops, train stations, schools, hospitals, parks, highways etc. to ensure that buyers are fully aware of what’s available to them when living in the area.

That’s it for this time, next episode - Preparing to move house.

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Today - Being Prepared for an Emergency

In such a busy world, taking time to think about what you’d need in the event of an emergency can seem like too much of a bother and one of those “it won’t happen to me” kind of subjects. But folks for the couple of hours it might take you to organise, it will save you alot of heartache should something dreadful happen, and if it never does, which is what we hope, then all you’ve lost is a few hours of your time.

Now as dramatic as this might sound - one approach to this topic is to imagine returning to your home to find nothing but ashes then ask yourself “What would I want to have stored with a relative or friend that will make this situation a whole lost less traumatic?”
Documents of importance include copies of birth certificates, passports, insurance policy numbers for house, vehicles, boats etc. Medical records might also be necessary. These could be in hardcopy or digital form kept on a disk. In addition things like family photos are often the kind of thing whose loss is greatly lamented. Now making copies of photos may be time consuming but it’s the perfect time to refine your photo collection down to the most important ones that you want to keep in the long term.
If you’re totally into the digital age then creating a disk with your entire collection of photos on it shouldn’t take too long.
The next thing to consider are slightly bulkier items like a change of clothes for each family member a first aid kit and this might sound odd but a picnic set containing plates cutlery and mugs for drinking.
All of these can fit in a small suitcase which can be stored in a garage, roof or basement of a relative or friend for whom you’re doing the same.

Make it an annual task to update this emergency pack so that any changes to policies, clothing sizes and photos is kept relatively up to date. There’d be nothing worse than diving into your emergency kit to find what’s there is basically useless.

That’s it for this time next episode - Preparing to stage your home for sale

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Today - When Hobbies become a Home hellmaker

Many homes suffer from home hobby hell & here’s how it happens. You like to do crafts, all sorts of crafts, you like to make cards, do tapestries, knit, sew, scrapbook etc etc and you like to grab every opportunity to snap up items that are suited to those crafts, in fact in some cases you seem to feel compelled to own the entire set of things. Over time though you find that all of this stuff has started to expand & take over the house.

Other family members are complaining about your stuff being everywhere and whilst you just haven’t got as much time as you’d like to spend on these things you just can’t seem to pack it away.
OK here’s a reality check. There’s only so much you can do in 24 hours and only so many tasks you can attend to in any week, month or year. Whilst your heart might be willing, time ain’t on your side.
Remember back in episode 7 I spoke about managing your time and about prioritising non-negotiable tasks and commitments. Take another look at your weekly and monthly schedule and your available time to spend on those hobbies. When you’ve done that you need to look logically at all those crafts and how much you’ll get done in your available time. Think about how long it generally takes you to complete one of your items and then at all the materials you have and how many of those items you can create from them.

At some point you simply must stop buying more materials until you have used up a good portion of what you have. If everything you have is really in disarray then your first task is to tidy and organise your materials such that you can estimate just how many items you can create. As well, perhaps consider eliminating a hobby or 2 particularly if you just haven’t gotten around to starting something that you’ve had the materials for for over a year.
Remember that hobbies are meant to be relaxing and enjoyable but if you’ve allowed things to get out of hand you’re less likely to enjoy the time you do have to spend on them. So don’t let your hobbies create hell at home.

That’s it for this time next episode Being Prepared for an Emergency

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today- Menu planning and grocery shopping.

One of the biggest time wasters and my pet hate is grocery shopping so the less time I can spend in those godforsaken stores the happier I am. To be honest I wonder just how many other people enjoy it, after all, I don’t see droves of happy smiling faces dancing up and down the aisles cheerily popping items in their trolleys.

One of the ways to reduce the entire process to the minimum of pain is to plan! and that means right back to what meals you intend to have over the next week or two or what ever distance it is between your shopping expeditions.
Most families have favourite meals and most home cooks have their quick and easy meals as well as their know-off-the-top-of-their-heads ones.
Taking the time to have a look at your calendar to see what upcoming events will impact your meal prep time is your first step and then go ahead and plan your meals for each day remembering to consider when it is that you are generally low on energy and prefer the quick and easy, and so forth.

With that done you can make a list of all of the ingredients you require for each meal cross checking with what you already have in stock. Having a dedicated notebook for writing down an item when you are out of stock is a time saver too. Now internet shopping is an option but personally as much as I’d prefer this option  my experience so far has been that it takes as long to do online as it would to drive to the shop and do it yourself.
What you can do is; make a note (one day) of the aisle layout of the store you generally use and then write your list according to the order your go through the store.
Now my final suggestion (and one of my pet peeves to avoid)  is the horrid mess of unrelated items in bags after the check out process, grrrr. Well I totally solved this one by A. - using recycle bags  and B.- placing one bag on the counter followed by all the items I want grouped together in that  bag - generally related to where they’re stored. Then you put the next bag up followed by the next group of items. Do this instead of handing all your bags at once to the check out person for them to randomly fill.
Hey this might sound a bit anal but it sure makes things easier when you get home and it really doesn’t take any longer to go through the checkout than if you just shoved it all up there mindlessly.

That’s it for this time , next episode When Hobbies become a Home hellmaker.

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today Setting up a functional kitchen.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the majority of kitchens in the average home were NOT designed with the needs of the average user in mind. I’m constantly astounded at the absurdity of some of the layouts I see that leave the king or queen of the kitchen struggling to deal with simple tasks and wasting vast amounts of time due solely to poor design.

Unfortunately kitchens are very expensive rooms to replace and so we’re stuck with trying to make the best of a bad situation, so here’s a few pointers that you can implement to help reduce the impact of poor kitchen design.

Look at your kitchen and work out your magic triangle - this is between the sink, stove and fridge. Somewhere in that triangle should be bench space to prepare your meals on. Sometimes it’s quite inadequate so the last thing you should have are any items stored in this area, it should be free clear space for preparing.

Next consider all of your kitchen contents & categorise them based on using the ‘FROG’ acronym.

• F=frequently used
• R=regularly used
• O=occasionally used and
• G= gotta keep but rarely use or don’t use.

Now cutting knives for example will likely be an F item and the Xmas dinnerware will be a G item.
Now look at your kitchen and decide what cupboards and shelving is convenient and what is a right royal pain in the butt to access. Generally those hideous corner cupboards with the fold out doors, with or without a lazy susan, are next to useless especially the bottom ones. These then are perfect for those G and probably some O items. Basically you’re looking to limit the number of times you have to get down on your hands and knees with your head shoved in a dark corner to fetch something. All items that you use on rare occasions should go in these inconvenient places.
At the other end of the scale are all those F items, cutlery, regular dinnerware, kettle, toaster, etc - items used daily, these should be in the easist most accessible and convenient locations.
All food items are best stored in a cupboard that allows you to see your full inventory easily, so avoid using several cupboards across the kitchen.
Lastly I’ll state the obvious; cleaning and washing items under the sink - (use a lock if you’ve got kids), pots and pans under, over or beside the stove area and cull that tupperware collection ladies before it mutates and consumes your home! ;D

That’s it for this time, next episode - Menu planning and grocery shopping.

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today Setting up a communication hub.

When it comes to being organised in a busy household particularly with school kids and teens who have do of activities it’s really important to have just one area where everyone knows they can find out important information about the entire family’s schedule.

I like to call this place the Comm’s Centre. Now back in the old days a mere few years ago the most sensible place for such a set up would be near the telephone that was often in or near the kitchen, thatis one of those telephone that was permanently attached to the wall! Now whilst these archaic devices are inconvenient due to their lack of mobility their advantage was they were always reliably in the one place.

If you have landline phone permanently attached to the wall then that’s the perfect spot for your Comm’s Centre location. If on the other hand you have one of those evil elusive walkabout jobs or only mobile phones then your first challenge is to develop the habit of always putting that back in the same place after use and this can be your comm’s centre. I would recommend that place to be what is the most social gathering point in your home. Generally this tends to be the kitchen/dining area.

Your comm’s centre should have the following items
1. a large wall calendar - generally a month-at-a-time is best, so there’s enough space to write events in each day.
2. A cork board to pin notices, photos, tickets etc to.
3. A whiteboard or chalkboard to write large message that everyone will see.
4. Pens, pencils and sticky notes.
In addition this is the perfect area to also have your phone recharger and other device chargers plus your keys, wallets and purses, & mail inbox and that Household reference binder mentioned in the last episode!

Many of these items can be located on the wall so you avoid consuming precious bench space .
You’ll really love this setup once in place, it saves a whole heap of heartache by containing everything in the one place. Remember to explain to everyone how the system works and your family scheduling messages and communication will run like clockwork! No more missed events or double booking the same dates or lost notices the comm ’s centre is your family reference place.

That’s it for this time next episode - Organizing a practical kitchen.

Previous in series

The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today Creating a household reference binder

The idea is to contain all the really important information that you need to refer to regularly or even occassionally in this one place that’s kept in a suitably convenient location for easy access.
You’ll be needing a ring binder of reasonable size , plastic display sleeves,  coloured tab dividers, blank paper and have a hole punch on hand.
Before rushing out to get those though you need to decide what of the following things you wish to put into it.

• Baby care information for baby sitters - with any particulars about their likes and dislikes, special needs or allergies, your contacts details plus emergency numbers and what you’d want them to do in the event of a problem. This is great as a written record of having informed them these things, you could even have them sign it off. It also means if you’re in a hurry you don’t have to waste time explaining all the little details and if you find you’re changing sitters alot it’s a very big time & stress saver. Set this section up so that you can hand it to the sitter as a separate document so they don’t have access to the rest of your binder.

• Emergency information and evacuation procedures for particular scenarios, fire, flood, other natural disasters plus housebreak & burglary. Also note where those items are that you really want to grab & save in the event of blistering getaway situation.

• Household maintenance schedule for things like gutter cleaning, checking the roof, cleaning windows, checking the sprinkler system, water tanks, trimming of plants  and so forth.

• Household contents for insurance purposes, note items and those things with serial numbers, this is a good time to check that everything that should be listed on your policy are in fact listed.

Other household binder information includes your;

• car maintenance records and information,
• medicals records for all family members and a note to where you’ve stored xrays.
• A section for your local takeaway restaurants and
• should it be relevant a bunch of brochures of the local sights for any visitors that come to stay. If you’re like me and tend to go blank when people ask what tourist attractions are around it saves embarrassment!

That’s it for this time, next episode setting up a communication hub.

Previous in series Next in series

The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today Dealing with mail.

Your incoming mail is often where the whole issue of paper overwhelm begins. Here is where you need to take a hard look at what you’re currently doing that isn’t working and decide that you are going to change those habits to more effectively deal with this nasty clutter maker. Start by always dealing with your mail immediately you collect it.

The first strategy should be to toss out any junk mail you don’t want - if it’s something that is coming in regularly that you no longer want then make a note of it in your diary or calendar. Do this for a month, a timeframe that will cover most of the regular stuff you receive that you no longer desire and then make a time to sit down and write, email or call each one to be removed. There are sites that help you be removed from list altogether which is a great options if you’re concerned about the amount of trees being sacrificed to provide us with something we commonly refer to junk! (see sidebar for links)

Next strategy is to deal with your other mail straight away as well. If you receive a bill then make a note on your calendar of when it’s due to remind you to pay it if you’re not using auto debits and then file it at the front of the existing folder for those accounts. It’s simple, effective, and you know where the bill is when you come to pay it - it’s in file where it belongs after it’s paid. The crucial step here is marking the due date on the calendar - and aim to pay it the day before.

Don’t leave mail in a ‘deal with it later’ pile that grows exponentially and overwhelms you.  Keep all your invitations, appointments and other date related notices together in their own home for easy reference and write them in your diary and/or on the calendar immediately as well.
Avoid wasting time browsing through catelogs if you aren’t ‘in the market’ for the kind of items it’s advertising this will; 1 - save you time & 2 likely save you money by avoiding temptation, you can’t miss what you’ve never had!

That’s it for this time, next episode  Creating a household Reference Binder.

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